Multi-Institutional Coordination for Area Maritime Security

Enhancement of Multi-Institutional Collaborative Decision-Making and Coordination for Regional Maritime Crisis Management

Mission: To augment the research capacity of the Puget Sound Area Maritime Security (AMS) Committee as it looks to assess and enhance its decision-making and coordination processes for incident response.

Established by federal regulations (CFR Title 33, Part 103), AMS committees work under the direction of the Captain of the Port (COTP) to support regional maritime security planning and coordination. To address these concerns, each AMS committee is charged with: (1) completing a risk-based AMS Assessment; (2) developing and maintaining an AMS Plan; and (3) exercising the Plan.

To support the Puget Sound AMS Committee in their AMS Assessment task, we plan to develop (1) a map of the sense-making, decision-making and coordination processes of the diverse AMS community, both during non-crisis and crisis situations; and (2) an evolving map of technology components that support these AMS processes, such as command and control (C2) systems, analysis tools, and databases. Finally, we will develop (3) a visual representation of how existing technology and possible analytic and coordination enhancements map to these regional safety and security processes. This is a significant research and visualization challenge: acquiring and presenting in a useful form a multi-layered, interconnected, dynamic map of multi-institutional collaborative decision-making, communication and supportive technology for regional safety and security.

Benefits

Transparency of information breeds self-correcting behavior.

—Adm. Thad Allen, USCG

The initial descriptive nature of this project will provide a better understanding of complex information and communication systems; such an understanding is needed to improve system processes. Not only will this project increase transparency of regional safety and security information processes and how they can be enhanced, it will also provide a framework for coordination of regional process improvement that could be applied to other areas, particularly coastal regions with AMS committees.

The Joint Harbor Operations Center on Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington.

Collaborators

• Pacific Rim Visualization and Analytics Center (PARVAC)
• Puget Sound Area Maritime Security (AMS) Committee (Captain of the Port Suzanne Englebert, USCG)